


Essential Surgery

by infiniteOddity



Series: We Were Once so Young [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, Sideshow - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Dark Sideshow, Gen, Implied Cannibalism, Minor Character Death, Torture, bed and buck have a great time doing bad things, doctor rp, the rating is solely because a rando gets straight up tortured and killed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 20:54:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17905457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infiniteOddity/pseuds/infiniteOddity
Summary: Trying to keep up their reputation in Los Santos means that Criken sometimes has to ask his friends to do some unsavory things. Luckily enough for him, Buck and bed are more than happy to make an example of the newest traitor while Criken briefs a new batch of recruits on the way things work at Sideshow.





	Essential Surgery

**Author's Note:**

> playlist made for this au 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6W8ESQarvaXjFfdq6twRb3

A man slowly comes to consciousness. 

The first thing he recognizes is the searingly bright light above him. He opens his eyes only to squeeze them shut again as soon as the burning white magnifies the headache he's just now noticing. The man tries to roll over, away from the light, and it's only then that his mind processes that he's been bound to the bed. He struggles as hard as he can, but is only left gasping with exertion by the end. The confusion and panic leave him off guard enough that he doesn't realize anyone else is in the room until there's a face hovering right over him. At first, there's no way of telling who it is, the blinding light behind leaving their face in darkness, but then the light just barely glints off of lens and the figure coalesces into someone very, very familiar. “Boss…” the man whimpers and Criken himself leans back with a laugh.

“Oh, so now it's “Boss.” Where was that loyalty when you were selling my secrets to the other side?” 

The man whimpers again and the once steady beeping at his side suddenly spikes. He looks over only to see that he's hooked up to a heart monitor. That's when he fully takes in that he's strapped to a gurney and dressed in a hospital gown. 

Criken gives another chuckle that echoes oddly in the room. “It's nice to see that you've finally noticed your predicament. You see, we here at Sideshow don't take kindly to traitors. You were fully briefed on that policy when you were hired in, yet you still decided to cross us.”

“No, please. I needed the money for my family.”

Criken continues on as if he hadn't heard the man. “And so, you will face punishment, just as I said you would.”

Two figures emerge out of the shadows to stand next to Criken and he gestures to them with a pleasant smile. “Meet Doctors Bed and Buck. They will be operating on you today.”

The man can't see their faces, hidden as they are by hospital masks, but he knows those names and it sends him struggling even harder. The monitor spiking again as his heart thuds even harder in his chest. He's personally had to dispose of the bodies those two have mutilated and he has no illusions that he's going to leave this room in anything but pieces. “No no no no no. I'll give you anything. Please. No.” 

Criken gives a tired sigh and turns, laying his hands on Bed and Buck's shoulders before he says, “He’s all yours, doctors. Have fun. I have a meeting with some new recruits, be sure to provide them with a solid example of why it's unwise to cross us.” 

The two give him understanding nods and he quickly leaves, the open door illuminating the dim room for just a moment before he's gone.

~~~

Bed and Buck share a look and a nod. 

“Doctor.”  
“Doctor.”

Then they're stepping up to the gurney to get a good look at their new patient. Both of them are fully decked out for surgery. Hospital masks cover their mouths, but even through them, it's obvious that they're both grinning.

“Good evening, subject 1337. It's such an honor for you to volunteer for this procedure.”

“And what operation are we performing tonight, Dr. Bed?”

“Oh, that's simple, Dr. Buck. We're going to cut the traitor out of him.”

The man strapped to the gurney starts wailing in panic as he sees a cart full of shining metal instruments rolled into his eyesight. 

~~~~~

Upstairs, Criken is surveying the new hires like the latest stock of cattle. He takes note of the particularly twitchy ones, subtly pointing them out to Tomato, who's watching the whole thing from the back. 

Tomato is perfect for these kinds of situations. He blends in seamlessly, looking like some tech guy too lost in his laptop to care about what's going on around him. Criken, on the other hand, knows that his dear friend is always watching and right now he's digging up whatever dirt he can on the people being singled out.

Once the briefing is over, they'll look over whatever intel Tomato found together and make the necessary cuts or warn off whoever thought they could send in spies. 

For now, though, Criken pulls on the persona of The Boss and starts in on the speech he's fine-tuned and memorized. “Good afternoon, everyone. I'm impressed to see that so many of you made the cut.”

~~~~

A delighted cackle leaves Bed's mouth as he watches Buck continue to leave shallow cuts down their patient's arm. “Have you managed to find the source of the corruption yet, Dr. Buck?” 

“Negative, Dr. Bed. He does have a few nasty scars already. Maybe someone else got their hands on him before us? It's likely that he fucked with someone nicer than Criken.”

“Very likely indeed.” Bed gives a sagely nod as he looks over the man strapped to their gurney. He's stopped wailing for now, but his heavy breathing whistles through his teeth and the heart monitor is still beeping rapidly, leaving the room anything but quiet. “He didn't get so lucky this time. Perhaps we need to look somewhere else. If I may?” 

He holds out his hand and Buck passes over the scalpel he was using. It gleams with blood in the single overhead light, same as what’s currently running down their test subject’s arms in steady rivulets. 

None of them liked snitches or traitors, Criken especially, and they had orders to make this as painful as possible. Bed walks to the other side of the gurney and starts to slice deep into the man's bicep, flaying skin and fat and muscle in a series of slow, agonizing cuts until he can wrench it all apart to see the bone hidden deep inside. 

“Nothing here either,” he says to Buck over the deafening sound of the patient’s screams. His expression neutral under his mask.

~~~~~

“Now, here at Sideshow, we like to see ourselves as one, big, happy, crime family and, because of that, we expect blood loyalty if not… Well, we have our own special, in-house ways of dealing with people who try to cross us.” Criken watches as a few people roll their eyes and he even hears a few snorts. With impeccable timing, screams drift up from the basement through the vents, followed by echoing laughter. The bored air in the room quickly changes as the new stock look to each other nervously. Murmurs fill the room as Criken keeps going, acting like he's unaware of the sounds of terror coming from below them. 

“We reward loyalty greatly. Just like any good business, there are opportunities to move up within our ranks. We'll be keeping an eye on your performance to pick out those who go above and beyond. A good work ethic means better business and better business means more money to go around. Not so hard to understand, right?”

He gets a few nods, but most of the recruits are too focused on the muffled words that have reached them. 

“No. No. I don't want to die like this!”

~~~~~

“So, Dr. Buck, did you ever hear about the surgeon who did an amputation so fast he ended up taking his assistant's fingers too?” Bed asks as he admires a wicked looking bonesaw.

“Nope. Can't say I have, Dr. Bed. If that's what you’re planning count me out. This guy's got plenty of fingers, you don't need mine, too.” 

“I was just wondering. Criken did say we could keep whatever we wanted. I was thinking maybe a leg...that way we can be nice and share with him and Tamto.” Bed goes to stand at the end of the gurney, studying the man's legs closely. “Which one looks better to you?” 

Buck comes to stand next to him, making a big show out of deciding as their patient rattles the whole gurney with his insistent struggling, the rapid beeping of the monitor a constant annoyance at this point. “Right side,” Buck finally says and then picks up his scalpel again. He walks back up to where he was stationed at the top of the gurney and cuts a deep line across the man's forehead. Blood pours quickly from the head wound and they both watch as the subject is forced to squeeze his eyes shut against the rush of liquid, his whimpers filling the room again.

Bed gives Buck a look of approval as he decides where he wants the tourniquet. He ties the band off tight, high on their patient’s thigh. It's nowhere near where he'll have to deal with cutting through the joint, but it’ll give them enough for a nice meal later. 

He'll let their patient deal with the constriction for a little while longer. Bed still wants to have some fun and if he takes the leg now, the subject will bleed out before they're done. There's no point in making a corpse suffer and Criken did say to go all out for this one.

~~~

“To conclude, I hope that most of you will have long, prosperous tenures here at Sideshow. You'll receive messages tonight detailing your positions and when and where you are going to show up tomorrow for your first tasks.” Criken is sure to keep his tone even and pleasant. Most bosses try to keep up a fierce, intimidating aura, but he's found that it makes underlings more likely to brush off his anger. If he acts like the professional he is, then thugs with funny ideas are more likely to fear his wrath. Never knowing when he'll be truly set off.

His friends are a huge help as well. Screams from Bed and Buck's workshop are still echoing up through the vents. He asked them to take their time and it's nice to hear that they didn't let him down. There’s an underlying current of fear throughout the new recruits and that’s just how Criken wants it. A majority of them are glancing warily at each other as they get their things to leave. The first briefing was only a taste of what they'll experience later on, but tomorrow will reveal who had enough guts to stick with them. 

He doesn't always enjoy being this dramatic, but the recent breach in security means that he didn't let it sink in well enough that he's not someone to be trifled with. 

Chief and Lawl come to stand in the doorway as the prospects start to file out, the two of them staying with the group to make sure no one tries to wander. As they're leaving, Criken makes his way back to Tomato, eager to hear if he's found any blackmail worthy info.

\---

Behind his mask, Bed can see that Buck is enjoying himself. It's been too long since Criken's let them put this much drama in one of their “sessions.” Lately, they've been told to just be quick and effective, scaring whatever information the can out of their victims, but not being given the time to put on a full production like now. 

It's been boring. 

It's especially obvious that Buck's been restless. Bed’s caught him pacing the hideout at all hours of the day and realized that he's just up and left more often than not. The only indication any of them get that he's not completely AWOL is cryptic texts from Zyke saying that they're having fun.

If they weren't in Los Santos, there would probably be news stories and missing persons cases that coincide with Buck’s disappearances, but they're lucky that no one in this hellhole gives a damn unless buildings are blowing up.

“I think it's about time we found out what makes traitors like this tick. What do you think, doctor?” Bed asks as he moves to the side, pulling the cart of surgical instruments closer to the gurney. 

“I think you're right. It's been a while since we've done a live dissection.”

“Would you like to do the honors?”

“I would love to.” Buck laughs as he looks over the cart, his eyes pausing on the wicked looking scalpels. 

As he’s browsing their selection, Bed walks around the test subject, making sure none of the straps holding him down have loosened. Once he’s content that they’ll hold, he takes a pair of shears from the cart, quickly cutting through fabric to expose the man’s chest. He’s done just in time for Buck to step back up with a large scalpel in one hand and a bone saw in the other. 

“Who’s ready for surgery?”

A deep chuckle leaves him as he leans over their patient and presses the blade into the skin of his sternum. The man starts to thrash even more wildly, the monitor he’s hooked up to going crazy and the gurney shaking with his struggles. 

~~~~

“So, it looks like RT is getting some funny ideas. Eight of those guys had connections to either RT themselves, ScrewAttack, or Funhaus.” Tomato sighs loudly and pushes up his glasses to rub under his eyes. There’s already a headache brewing and the day has barely begun for him. “I told you this batch of newbies was weirdly big. We’re not nearly this well known yet. It’s just the big guys trying to see what us small fry have planned.”

He leans back in his chair to stretch and Criken has to scramble to not get hit in the face. He made the mistake of trying to peek over Tomato’s shoulder even though he could only make sense of about half of what was going on on the screen. 

“Hey, don’t worry about it. Now that we know who they are, we’ll make sure they don’t get callbacks and we’ll send Zyke and Lawl out to cause a little chaos. We know where RT roams the most, no harm in a little guerilla warfare.”

Tomato gives another full body sigh and lulls his head back so he can really look at Criken. “There’s a lot of harm in that, dude. This was just them showing off the fact that they know where we live. If we piss them off enough and they come after us, we don’t have nearly enough manpower to fend them off. Sure we’ve got lots of tricks and traps and yours truly running the security system, but even I know it’s not enough.”

“Hey.” Criken smiles and ruffles Tomato’s hair. “Don’t sweat it. So, we won’t go after them directly, but there’s no harm in having the boys make a little trouble adjacent to their territory. I get why you’re worried, but RT checking on us could even be considered a good thing. It’s proof that we’re having enough of an impact on the city for us to register on their radar. They sent eight spies in here. That’s amazing, Tomato!”

Criken twirls backward, his hands lifted high above his head as he laughs.

“They know who we are. They know that Sideshow is a player to watch out for!”

~~~~

“You know, it’s really a shame that we lost him already,” Bed sighs over the whirring of the bonesaw. “I was kind of curious what would happen if we cut off a limb while he was still kicking.”

“Eh, this was cool enough, dude. We’re gonna have to do this bit again. Seeing all his insides move around while he was still breathing was wicked. I didn’t know that any of that was that color.” Buck’s packing the man’s heart on ice, his hands up to the elbow covered in slick blood. 

“It was pretty fun and we got to keep souvenirs this time. Think Criken’s gonna like ‘em?” Bed giggles as he finally works through their former patient’s femur. He pulls the whole thing away and wraps it up tightly in a cloth to bring upstairs and start preparing.

“He’s gonna hate it, dude. You better not let him see that until you’re done with dinner or he’s going to be weird all night.” 

“It’ll be fine. He’ll be so happy that we dealt with his little problem that he’s not gonna care. Just watch and learn.”

~~~~

The door to the briefing room bursts open, letting in Buck, still decked out in his surgeon get up. Covered in blood, and carrying a little cooler. “We’re done!”

“Hey, perfect timing. We just wrapped up, too,” Criken says as he gets up from leaning over Tomato while he works. “I got to hear most of it and it sounded like you guys did an excellent job. I can’t wait to see the results.”

“I can just show you now.” Bed finally trails in, something long and wrapped up in blood splattered cloth slung over his shoulder. It’s enough to get Tomato to perk up as he takes the two of them in.

“Before you do whatever you’re going to do - which is probably a bad idea - let me just say this: RT is trying to spy on us.” 

“Duly noted. Want me to check on them later?”

“Nope. We’re already sending in Lawl and Zyke. Their faces aren’t as well known either.” Criken butts back in, getting closer to inspect whatever Bed has. 

“Good. That gives me more time to work on a contingency plan. Oh yeah. We kept this for you, Boss.” Bed turns to Criken with a truly sinister grin. He sets his package down on the table opposite Tomato and opens it with a flourish. The dismembered leg attempting to roll across the surface. “Surprise.”

“Oh. Oh no. You guys are gross. I know I said you could have something, but I figured it would be something small.”

“Nah. Where’s the fun in that? We wanted to share with you. Besides, by the time I’m done, you never know the difference between this and regular food.”

“I hate you.” Criken rolls his eyes and goes to sit with Tomato again. “Just go. Take your body parts and get cleaned up.”

The two surgeons start to leave, giggling over what a mess both of them are. 

“Oh! And Bed. Buck. You did a good job.”


End file.
